Threads of Desire (Spellcraft) - By Stone, Eleri Page 0,34
it all in. Children, dozens of them, bent over their work. She was...confused. Once she would have believed he was using the children to make money. A few weeks ago she’d believed him to be a proud and callous aristo with no thought for the people who served him. But she knew better now. The Kal she’d come to...care about wouldn’t steal orphan children from the streets and force them to work in his warehouse.
Kal tried to turn her around as the woman he called Cassia came to greet them. Ily couldn’t have moved if she wanted to. Her mind was racing as she tried to make sense of it.
“What is this place?”
He squeezed her shoulder. “It’s a school. The street children you think I hand over to Calef? We bring them here, give them a dry bed and regular meals, training.”
“Calef said—”
“Calef is paid well to keep his mouth shut and not ask questions. Whatever he’s told you is only speculation on his part.”
“Kal’s telling you the truth,” Cassia said, but Ily didn’t even glance at her.
It didn’t make sense. Why would he hide this? The aristos might think he was mad but she wouldn’t have thought their opinion would stop him from doing what he truly wanted to do. The worst that could happen was that he’d be swamped by other desperate people looking for help. But a man like Kal could set rules and afford to enforce them. “I don’t understand. Why hide it?”
“No one can know about this place, Ily.” There was a clear warning in his tone that knocked her off balance again. “My daughter is here. The guild believes she’s dead. If they find out she’s still alive, they’ll kill her.”
Ily had her own reasons for avoiding the guild, but they weren’t monsters. They were a powerful, prideful and rule-bound organization, but not evil. There was only one reason why they would even consider killing a child.
“Your daughter, is she...” Oh, Kal. She swallowed past the lump in her throat. “She’s blind.”
A flicker of pain crossed his face and she turned to face him, wanting to hug him to her chest and run her fingers through his hair. But she kept her hands to herself.
He nodded. “It’s why the University denied her entrance.”
“There’s a reason for that.” A good one.
“I know it, but I won’t stand aside and allow them to murder her.”
Cassia did touch him to offer comfort, a light pat on his shoulder. Ily saw it and wrestled for a moment with the rage that flared inside her. She would figure out who this woman was to him later. Right now, that was the least of her concerns. Or it should be.
“Some would count it a mercy.”
“Would you?”
No, but she didn’t answer him directly. She would know the full extent of his deception before she conceded anything.
“That’s why you watched me in the market,” she said, hoping for a denial but seeing the truth on his face. “That’s why the commission...everything.”
He’d needed a master weaver and, as far as she knew, she might very well be the only artist at her level that had broken off relations with the guild.
“Not everything, Ily. I hope you never believe that.”
What else was she supposed to think? She noticed that he hadn’t denied that her talent was the reason he’d pursued her. And why was she angry? She’d been the one to insist that this was only a business arrangement. She’d known it would end.
She looked around the room again to avoid his searching gaze. It wasn’t a bad place, certainly nicer than any she’d called home until she met Kal. The windows stretched nearly to the floor and looked out over the flat rooftop of the neighboring warehouse. Beyond that was the sea. He’d put in guild-strengthened glass—she could see where they were marked at the corners although he’d left them unadorned. Apprentice work but still costly. The children were gathered in groups around tables, sitting on cushions and speaking quietly with one another. Occasionally, a voice would rise in laughter or rebuke, but they were a remarkably well-behaved group. Of course, they knew the stakes. They knew what waited outside for them if they were tossed from this place. They looked clean and healthy and extremely curious about the arrival of their benefactor and the strange woman he’d brought to see them. But as nice as this place was, it was no palace.
“You keep your daughter here?”
“The guild knows about her. I took